23 August 2011

I can haz paper

I've been trying to write a post all month, but I've either been sick or busy or completely uninspired.  Part of the reason why I've been busy is because I finally submitted my paper and heard back from the journal.  With a bit of work, it was accepted and I posted it to the e-print archive.  You can find it here, if you're interested.  Posting to ArXiv is interesting because everyone wants to have their paper listed first.  You can post as early as 3:00 PM CST.  I posted mine at 3:01:10 PM.  My paper is 6th for the day.  I'm not even the first poster in my main category (Galaxy Astrophysics).  It turns out that the cosmology people are QUICK.  The first five people who posted did so at 3:00:01, 3:00:02, 3:00:04, 3:00:07, and 3:00:30.

To celebrate, Colby and I didn't do anything.  I'm going to try to make him go out at some point soon, but we've been eating a lot of low key meals either at home or at familiar restaurants.  The new adventures we've had have included Full English and Baguette House (click here for a pdf menu).

We went to Full English because I was having a serious pasty craving, after discovering that you can order Yooper pasties from a restaurant in the UP, only to realize that the shipping costs were over 100 bucks.  So much for that.  I guess I try to reserve judgment on places without having gone there more than once, but I'm unlikely to return to Full English because a) it's like CRAZY far from our house, b) I had to bribe Colby to go, and c) the pasty I had was clearly baked, then frozen, then reheated.  This makes for a frozen middle if it's not in the oven long enough or a really dry inside once it is cooked through.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't experience both of these.  It was served with a red pepper chutney, which was good, but not nearly moist enough to make up for the chalky potatoes and the dry beef.  My usual pasty sauces are beef gravy and sour cream.  I leave the ketchup to the real Yoopers.


The person who cooked our meal (perhaps the owner?) felt bad for the frozen part, so he gave as a free dessert.  I have no idea what it was, but it tasted like a firmer version of the granola bars they served at Cafe-to-Go at Michigan State.  Oh, the memories.

Tastes like college. mmm...
Baguette House, on the other hand, was wonderful and we'll be returning at some point.  My only complaint is that I didn't realize how big and filling their sandwiches are, so the spring rolls we ordered were totally unnecessary.  So this isn't really a complaint at all, just a really tasty sandwich.